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Unreal World v3.18 released! Quests feature sneak peak!

An old friend of RPS lurkers, iron-age-finnish-survival-roguelike UnReal World, just reached version 3.18.

Amongst other improvements and bugfixes, this version fully implements the fullscreen, zoomable mode, adds player reputations, new background, characters and flavour images and a whole revamp of the trade system:

Character's actions affect to his/her reputation with village. Word gets around quickly so all the inhabitants pretty much always share the general opinion about you, provided that you have earned your reputation within the social group in question.

There tons of new rules and AI improvements considering how NPCs react when somebody misbehaves in their village. Minor breaches are now dealt in less lethal way than previously, and in general NPCs have far more options than just to attack and kill the offender.

There are no more shop-like storehouses from where you can purchase goods only with craftsmen. That is history. Period. Goods in each village are now owned by the whole community and you can start trading for them with any adult village member. It doesn't matter in which building the goods are stocked, they are all available for trading.

UnReal World is free since last year, so, unless you really care about your social life, download it right now and be amazed. Also, be a nice person and donate some monies to those crazy finnish if you want to keep the game (and their developers) healthy.

"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."

its pretty great and extremely indepth survival game, played it way back when. im rather surprised seemingly few people know about it considering roguelike/survival trend in recent years. its been in developement probably longer than dwarf fortress.
those photos are are lol though, dev must be some survival larper nut.

Full-screen zoomable support? And a new trading system? <3 maybe it's time for me to go dust off my old fence-wall trap!

But man, that trailer really doesn't do the game justice. I mean it describes the game well enough, but it's as dry as just reading off a feature list. It doesn't convey any of the feeling and atmosphere of the game. Especially when you have a bad streak of trapping/hunting and you must desperately chase poor squirrels up trees just to survive to the next day to do the same thing all over again. And with winter close approaching...

Quests feature sneak peak!

Quests are coming -- and here we go with one example.
What we have here is an actual upcoming UrW quest told as a first-person narrative story. It's not too much of a spoiler to read it as some details and the end are not revealed. There are usually more than one way to solve each quest and your character's decisions may open or close plot paths. This means that rewards or results of quests aren't always fixed, but the end depends on how you play them.

This example falls into category of folklore/beliefs, and that will be just one type of quests. What's interesting with folklore quests is that now we have a good reason to make the spirit world more alive. We can actually get to see the spirits and interact with them.
...or at least we get to see and interact with beings that are told to be spirits.
Hmm.

--

Wandering through unfamiliar woods, the night sets and I decide to build a shelter and sleep by the fire. I wake up in the middle of the night and notice somebody standing by the campfire. It looks like a woman figure. Before I get to say a word she decides to flee. I run after her, but she is faster and soon disappears into nocturnal forest. It's too exciting to give up the chase so I decide to follow just a bit further, but not too far away from the fire. Deeper in the woods I only find "some interesting item" lying on the ground, but not a trace of the mystical lady. Not knowing what this "interesting item" is, how long it has been there or what purpose it might serve, I pick it up and return to my shelter. I go to sleep and decide to check the map in daylight. But in the morning I find nothing unusual. I keep the item and continue the journey.

I find a village, and notice that people are interested in my exceptional item. Some would be keen to accept in trading and some keep asking where did I get it. Well, I found it in the woods. For that reason one NPC thinks this interesting item might belong to a certain forest spirit. I learn that there are beings in the forest that may occasionally come warm themselves by lone adventurer's campfire. And I'm advised to return the item to its' owner. But I'm unsure if I ever get to meet that mystery woman in the woods again. Luckily I find a wise man who explains the means of building a fire in a way that might lure the being to appear again. Wise man also gives me instructions how to deal with this "interesting item" if its' owner is met again. With the instructions in my mind I set to meet the lady in the woods again.

Many times I wake up in the forest with no-one in sight, but finally it is happening again (Twin Peaks pun intended). I'm awaken by a strange feeling and see her standing on the other side of my campfire.

Knowing what to do this time I don't startle the woman, but we get to stare each other for quite some time. I do what the wise man said about dealing with the interesting item if its' owner is met -- and now the woman starts talking to me...

---

Question: How will the story behind the quest be unfolded? In "stages", with character-decision making in each stage? For example "The mysterious woman flees. Follow her? (Yes/No)", "You found a unidentified item not far from your campfire. Pick it up? (Yes/No)".

Answer:No special question/command stuff - story will be unfolded by playing "normally" with normal game commands available. It only takes imagination, curiosity and experimenting to unfold stories. You won't be pushed to follow any plot/quests.

In this example you can run after the fleeing mystery lady like just like you would run after a fleeing stag. You can do it, or you can do something else. Also you can pick up mysterious items like you would pick up something else. You can do it, or not to do it - without game pushing or asking you to do it. There will be no special "you find unindentified item" messages. The world, commands and game mechanics exist as they are, but there are hidden meanings and hints to reveal.

Q: Furthermore, I guess there will be hints concerning next step, such as "You pick up the item, but have no idea what it is. Maybe you should ask villagers about it?", or a villager answering "Looks interesting. Perhaps our sage knows more about it.", etc.
A:Actually, there won't be any clear in-game hints to push quests or plots forward. You have to find things by yourselves or hear stories, legends and hints from the people. "Looks interesting. Perhaps our sage knows more about it." would be a plausible NPC line.